February2016

The Louis & Gloria Flanzer Philanthropic Trust at the Jewish Family & Children’s Service of the Suncoast Inc.

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By Ryan G. Van Cleave | Photo by Nancy Guth

erhaps the only thing more impressive than the great love Gloria and Lou showed for each other during their 66 years of marriage is the generosity behind their longstanding commitment to philanthropy. “I can’t begin to tell you about the tens of millions of dollars that

Gloria and Lou Flanzer gave away during their lives,” says attorney Eric Kaplan, a co-trustee of The Louis & Gloria Philanthropic Trust, who has been a family friend, advisor, and business administrator for the Flanzers for decades. “Their decision to leave the entire estate to charity is fully consistent with that. They always felt that they had an obligation to give back.”

Gloria came from the Milstein family — a surname many in New York would recognize. Her family is among the most noteworthy in New York’s development circles, having played a significant role in restoring Battery Park City, Lower Harlem, and Times Square, among many other accomplishments.

Prior to moving to Florida, Gloria and Lou — a successful real estate developer and manager — endowed many facilities in the arts, social services, and healthcare. At New York Presbyterian Hospital alone there’s the Flanzer Auditorium, the Gloria and Louis Flanzer Vision Center, the Flanzer Cardiac Care Center, and the Milstein Hospital Building. White Plains Hospital has the Flanzer Center for Emergency and Critical Care as well as the Flanzer Pavilion. The list goes on and on.

Yet while the couple retained a home in Scarsdale, New York, they were Florida residents through and

through. They fell in love with Sarasota during a business trip and quickly established a home in Longboat Key. Gloria, in particular, adored this area. “When they got off the plane here,” says Kaplan, “she says it was like they were reborn. They loved Longboat Key and the greater Sarasota area. It was their home.”

It’s no surprise, then, that the Flanzers began to support charities here just like they did in New York.

One of the beneficiaries of their largesse is Sarasota Memorial Hospital. When Dr. Dean Hautamaki of Sarasota Memorial Hospital told her that the hospital needed equipment to better serve those in the middle of heart incidents, she ran the request by a trusted cardiologist from New York — their primary care physician and Chief of Cardiology at New York Presbyterian Hostpial, Dr. Allan Schwartz — who agreed

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February 2016